Where did the Chinese filters hide?

It’s no secret that many ventilation filters, especially analog filters, are made in China from cheap materials. However, you won’t find “Chinese” recuperator filters available for e-commerce online. Where have they disappeared?

Filters made in China are naturalized by various Estonian, Polish, German, Dutch, and Scandinavian distributors. Most of them hide under the labels “Made in Germany”, “Made using Scandinavian technology”, etc. They are quite easy to spot and are also covered with glossy film-coated cardboard, which is not used by EU producers.

What is the risk for the consumer in choosing such products?

The filter may have a shorter lifetime. Cheap filtering materials are used in the production of filters. Often up to 1.5 times more material is added to achieve normal resistance, so that even the folds of the material touch each other and there is a risk that a surface of dirt will build up on the filter in a short time, which will block the air going through the filter.

The filters have not been tested according to ISO 16890. Often the distributor of naturalized filters simply states a desired filter efficiency which is not supported by testing. Often a Chinese F7 filter will only achieve an ePM10 rating (although it will say e.g. ePM1 60%). Meanwhile, most EU manufacturers invest a lot in product development to achieve ePM1 with F7 filter material in order to catch all possible leakages and achieve a good efficiency-resistance balance.

E-commerce sites are not required by law to indicate the country of origin of goods, which is why a large number of less-than-honest traders take advantage of this. When asked by the Estonian Consumer Rights Authority, they stated that it is up to the seller. Regarding information on performance, they clarified that they consider that the ISO16890 standard is not mandatory (at least in Estonia) and that the distributor is free to declare the data that suits him.

CleanFilter filters are made in the EU with certified materials from the German manufacturer Sandler. The efficiency of the filters is certified according to ISO16890 and has been confirmed by tests at the FIATEC laboratory in Germany. CleanFilter – best quality at the best price.

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